Living Art
by jinx777
Summary: After one of Iruka's lessons in the academy about the different Ninja arts, a seven year old Naruto decides that he wants to find one for himself. So after the lesson he decides to go to the Konoha library in the hope of finding something that only he would use. Rated M for safety like all my fics, mostly for violence and swearing.
1. Art

**Alright long story short I am suffering from writers block for my other stories and have decided to start this one to help get me back in the mood to write because when I try and force it the chapters come out crap and I end up deleting them. I am hoping that by writing this new story it will help get me back into the right mind set.**

**For those of you that have read my 'Ideas for Adoption' you might recognise the idea that I decided to use, it is still open for anyone that wants to use it but I decided to see where it would goes :) I was actually debating between this idea and two others that are on there, though I might use them at a later date anyway, but in the end decided I wanted to try this one.**

**As always enjoy the story and let me know what you think.**

**One last thing, some of you don't seemed to have read my profile in the past from what I have seen in reviews for my other fics so I will say it here.**

**I am dyslexic, after years of hard work I have been able to learn to read to at a decent level, though I do still struggle a lot of the time especially with words that look similar, I still have a lot of trouble with my spelling and grammar. This is the reason why a lot of the time I make mistakes with both and sometimes use the wrong word even after proof reading my chapters over several times before uploading them. I have to rely a lot on spellchecker and sometimes pick the wrong word when it gives me an option. I am not trying to make anyone fell bad if they have reviewed one of my fics in the past or anything, I just wanted to make it clear that I am aware that I have problems. I have used Beta readers several times in the past but honestly I am not fond of using them, I don't know why I just don't.**

**Another one last thing, I don't like the current name of this fic so I will change it when I can think of something else, if anyone has an idea for a name let me know, if I pick your idea I will put it in a AN to give you credit.**

**Right now that that is out of the way let's get on with the story.**

Summary- After one of Iruka's lessons in the academy about the different Ninja arts, a seven year old Naruto decides that he wants to find one for himself. So after the lesson he decides to go to the Konoha library in the hope of finding something that only he would use. Rated M for safety like all my fics, mostly for violence and swearing.

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**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

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Chapter 1- Art

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Umino Iruka was a man in his late twenties, with brown hair tied into a short pony tail that looked a little like a pineapple and a scar on his face going from one cheek to another across his nose. He wore the stranded chunnin uniform of Konoha, a green flack jacket over a blue long sleeved shirt and blue pants.

He was look out over his class with a straight face, scanning over all their faces, and couldn't help but smile inside. He loved teaching; it always made him proud to see the next generation of Ninja grow into strong, independent people that would one day protect the village he loved so much. Each and every one of the children sat before him had the potential to become something great in the future and he was a pat of it.

After a moment he nodded to himself before turning back to the black bored and started his lecture.

"In the Shinobi world there are many different skills and abilities used, from poison to bloodlines and even things that can be learned over time. There are more techniques in this world then we are able to count and many that have never even been seen or documented. Even now somewhere in the elemental nations new techniques are being developed as we speak. Some examples of these techniques that we have here in Konoha are the Aburame clan, which uses special bug to assist them in battle, the Akimichi clan, that are able to expand parts of there body and the Yamanaka clan who specialise in mind Jutsu. Ninja have spent their whole lives creating, learning, and mastering these techniques for the good of their villages."

By the end of his speech Iruka couldn't help the small smile that came to his face hen he noticed that the entire class hanging off of every word he said, some were actually leaning forward in their seats with wide eyes. But one thing the scared chunin didn't notice was slight gleam that came to one of his students, a student with bright blue eyes.

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The moment class ended Naruto shot out the door and ran through the village, making a point to ignore all the people glaring at him as he ran down the street. Naruto was a small, skinny seven year old boy with spiky blonde hair, blue eyes and three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek. He wore a plane white shirt with a red and black spiral on the front, black shorts and a pair of old, almost worn-out sandals.

Despite the act that almost everyone he pasted sent a glare of barely contained anger at him as he ran down the street towards his destination there was a large grin on his face, exposing his slightly too long canine teeth. He didn't slow down for a second, not even as he went around corners and through back streets, barely paying a second thought for the people he almost ran into.

This went on for about ten minutes until he came to his destination, breathing heavily as he skidded to a stop in front of one of the largest buildings in the village, the Konoha Library. The Library was made from white stone, with steps leading up to the front door and large oak doors.

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Naruto slowly made his way to the doors and sneaked in before anyone could see him. Being carful not to be seen by the Librarian, a thin lady in her fifties that hated Naruto with a passion and would through him out if she saw him, the blonde boy quietly made his way through the isles towards the back where they kept the shinobi section, at least the one that is open to the public. Until a few years ago it had a lot more to it, but then they built a new, more secure wing to protect village secrets, but there were still a few books that could be of use. Ever since Iruka had told them about the different ninja techniques he could help but get excited, if he could find something good it might make the villagers stop glaring at him.

He spent the next hour looking though book after book, some had nothing and others had the theory for Jutsu, but nothing had really caught his eye. He found a book about something called puppetry that had originated from Suna, several books on different weapons and how to use them and even a book on something to do with music. But none of them seemed right to him.

It was while he was reaching a large book on a shelf above his head when it fell off the shelf, along with several others that all fell to the floor, when he saw a small, dusted covered book that had fallen with them, apparently having fallen behind the books on the shelf until it came down with them. Frowning at the book, Naruto picked himself up before retching out and picking it up and blowing on the cover to get the dust off, coughing when a small cloud of it blew into his face.

Before he had a chance to read the title the sound of foot steps echoed around the corridor, slowly getting closer until a frail voice, clearly female, range out.

"Is someone there, I heard noise?"

Eyes widening in fear, Naruto quickly stuffed the book into his bag before running in the opposite direction.

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By the time Naruto got back to his apartment he was once again out of breath and after locking the door behind him the young blonde collapsed onto his couch/bed. Letting out a sigh Naruto pulled the book out of his school bag, using his hand to wipe off the rest of the dust so he could read.

_Living Tattoo Jutsu_

_The Living Tattoo Jutsu was created during the second shinobi war and has a wide range of use including both defensive and offensive abilities. By channelling chakra into tattoo's made from special ink infused with the users chakra and blood, they are able to bring to life whatever the image represents. It can also be used to create weapons, objects and a verity of other useful things that can be used in battle, the only thing that can not be created using this technique is food._

_One of the many advantages of the Living Tattoo Jutsu is that it can also be used to create spies, by attaching a tattoo onto another person or object. then having it return the user is able to see, providing the image used has eyes, and hear, provider the image used has ears, whatever the tattoo has while being attached to another when it is reabsorbed onto the users skin. The size of the tattoo when it is activated can depend on both the quality of the image used and the amount of chakra it is given when activated, alone with the intelligence of the image._

_A right of passage for any user of the Living Tattoo Jutsu is something called 'The Familiar Contract', a special tattoo that is personal to the user; 'The Familiar Contract' is without a doubt the most powerful tattoo in the user's arsenal. It takes more chakra to activat it and is completely self aware, making it similar to a summon animal and can be anything you can imagine. Each Familiar is different and has a special ability that only they can use._

_The only downside to using this jutsu is that if an image is damaged while it is not active it will fade away form the user's skin, meaningthat the user is vonarable to phisical attacks, but if an active image is destroyed it will not return either._

Naruto stared at the book in his hands with wide eyes, completely amazed at what he was reading and a large grin stretching across his face as he read.

XXX

The next day, after spending most of the night reading through the book he had 'borrowed' from the library, Naruto was making his way through the streets of Konoha. But these were not just any streets, this was the 'Red Light' districted of Konoha that he lived in. Now most would think it odd that a seven year old would be in such a place, but the thing is that these streets were one of Naruto's favourite places to be. Here the people didn't glare at him; they didn't curse his name or throw things at him. Here he could walk down the street with a genuine smile, something that was never seen by anyone other then the Sandaime outside of these streets.

Here they were all equal; the lowest of the low, the people at were swepted under the rug and forgotten.

He nodded to several women that were stood on a street corner in skimpy clothes as he passed and they all smiled at him and waved. He came to the mouth of a darkened alleyway when a large man with a trench coat stepped out with a frown on his face, before looking down at the small blonde and smile as he pat him on the head and walked on. The young blonde often found it funny that the people that would just as soon slit your throat for looking at them the wrong way treated him more humanly then the 'upstanding' civilians of Konoha.

After several minutes of walking Naruto arrived at his destination, a small tattoo shop located down a back alley that if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't find. The front door was covered in spray paint, words and pictures overlapping each other making it one big mess, he couldn't see through the windows because they were filthy and the only thing that identified it as anything other then an abandoned building was a small plack at the side of the door.

**Punchi's Tattoo Shop**

_If you don't like it, get lost!_

A small smile crossed his lips at the sign, and after taking a moment to compose his thought Naruto reached out and knocked on the door.

Not two minutes later the door swung open, almost hitting the blonde if he didn't take a step back, to revile what must have been the largest man he had ever seen, even more so then an Akimichi. He stood at least 7'5 feet tall and looked to be about forty, he was very muscular which was plane to see with his open black vest and bare chest, though he did have a bit of a pot belly, the jeans he was wearing looked like they had seen better day and the black fingerless gloves he wore both had metal plates on the backs of then like he had seen most ninja wearing. He had on a dark blue bandana with long black and grey hair sticking out the side of it falling down to his shoulders and his eyes were covered by a large pair of sunglasses that seemed pointless to Naruto given the poor light in the alley. On both his arm he had tattoos of what looked like a list of names going from his shoulder to his wrist and on his chest was anther tattoo of the leaf symbol that ninja of the village wore on their headbands.

The man looked left and right, getting a confused look on his face before his eyes finally landed on the small blonde and Naruto saw one of his eyebrows lifting up over the rim of his glasses.

"Your a bit young to be getting a tattoo don't you think kid?"

His voice was very deep, but had no hostility in it which helped put Naruto at ease, and after taking a deep breath he tried to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Naru-"

"I know how you are."

The man interrupted him.

"I didn't ask for your name, I asked why a kid like you is standing outside my shop."

For a moment Naruto debated inside his head on what he should tell the man. Despite his size and intimidating look he seemed to be a decent person and he wasn't glaring at him, which was normally a good sign, but at the same time he didn't know the man. Eventually he decided on the truth.

"I'm training to be a ninja and I need your help with a technique I found in a book I accidentally stole from the library."

Looking at the small blonde, both his eyebrows know raised, before a small smile came to his lips and he stepped back so Naruto could get through the door.

"Come on in kid, I think we have a lot to talk about, by the way my names Punchi."

After locking the door behind them the now identified Punchi led Naruto down a small hallway, passed several rooms until they stopped at the end and entered and the young boy wasn't sure what to think as he looked around the room.

Despite the rest of the building looking like it was about to fall down this room was completely clean, he could actually small the disinfectant in the air, the walls where white and the lights in the ceiling were so bright they hurt his eyes a little, forcing him to squint, and on one wall were hundreds of pictures of arms, legs, backs and even a few breasts with tattoos on the skin. The only furniture in the room was a desk set against the back wall, two chairs, a table with wheels on the bottom and what looked like some kind of cross between a table and a bed.

Sitting down in one of the chairs, Punchi nodded his head for Naruto to take the other one and after he did waited for him to explain. Letting out a sigh, Naruto reached into the bag on his back and pulled out the book he had taken from the Library, holding it for a moment before handing it over to the older man as he spoke.

"My teacher was telling us about some of the different ninja arts in class so I decided to go to the Library and see if I could find anything I could learn. I found this book, I think it might have fallen down the back of some others because it was covered in dust, but before I could read it the Librarian came and I had to run. When I got home I read the book and found out it has instructions for a ninja art call Living Tattoo Jutsu. I think it got left behind when they transferred the other books into the secure wing by accident."

As he was talking Punchi read a few of the pages, his eyes widening at some of the things he was read and a grin slowly creeping it way across his face. When Naruto finished he looked up at the blonde, grin still in place, before he handed the book back and stood from his chair, walking over towards the wall covered in pictures.

"I have spent years learning my craft, my art if you will. I've seen people come into my shop time and time again and to this day I have never had a dissatisfied customer. Sometimes I give them what they want and sometimes what they need. This wall is my art, every patch of skin I have ever had the fortune to turn into my art is on this wall and I am proud of each and every one."

Turning back to Naruto the young blonde was a little surprised to see tears falling from behind the glasses down his face.

"What you have done today kid, is show me a way that I can take my art to the next level, with this Living Tattoo Jutsu my art will truly come alive and for that I thank you. I would be honoured to help you."

Smiling at the man, though the way talked about his art was a little creepy, Naruto hopped of his chair, ran over to him and hugged his leg, it being the only part of him he could reach.

XXX

An hour later found Naruto stood next to Punchi as the older man sat at his desk, which now the blonde could see it closer he realised was covered in bottles with different colure inks. They had sent the last hour reading over the instructions to make the special ink that was needed for the Living Tattoo Jutsu, making sure they had the recipe just right.

They had already mixed his blood into several pots of ink and Punchi was making sure they had done it right, his face inches away from a pot of black ink. After a moment he sat back and nodded his head, satisfied it was good, before turning to the small blonde next to him with.

"Alright the ink is ready; now all you have to do is channelling your chakra into it and were ready to go."

Nodding his head Naruto reached out and took one of the bottles into his hands before closing his eyes and focusing. They had learned how to channel their chakra a few weeks ago in class and although he wasn't very good at it, often channelling too much at a time, the book said the more you put in the ink the better it would be.

When he was satisfied with the amount Naruto opened his eyes, his hands still covering the bottle, and put it back on the table. It was just like the book said it would be, now that the ink was charged with his chakra it had a blue glow emanating out of it and when Punchi picked it up to get a closer look it was warm to the touch.

After Naruto repeated this procedure with the other bottles they moved on to the next step, picking a tattoo. They talked about it for another hour before both agreed it needed to be something simple, the book said that the more life like the tattoo the easier it would be to control but at the same time the more complicated the image the harder it would be. Eventually they decided and after warning Naruto that it was going to hurt, Punchi got to work.

Naruto wouldn't lie, he knew that it was going to be painful but he wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it was when the needle first touched his skin and he let couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped his lips before he clamped his jaw tight to stop any more noise getting out. After a few minutes he started to get used to the sting of the needle repeatedly piecing his skin and was able to ignore it for the most part.

It didn't take Punchi long to finish and when he was done the older man sat back in his chair with a pleased smile on his face and nodded to Naruto who looked at his forearm that now had a small, two inch long lizard tattooed on it. It was mostly black, with a red diamond pattern around its eyes and going down its spin to the tip of its tail, with small red eyes and a little pink tongue sticking out its mouth.

Smiling, Naruto turned to Punchi to see an excited grin on his face. This was the step they were looking forward to the most, bring the tattoo to life. The book said that this was actually not as hard as you would think; all he had to do was channel his chakra into the lizard, giving it a 'spark of life' to 'wake it up', the hard part was controlling it.

From what they could understand the moment the tattoo is brought to life a connection would form between Naruto and the lizard that would allow him to direct it, but if not following a command or direct instruction the tattoo would do its own thing. It would take time to learn how to use the connection properly.

Taking in a deep breath, Naruto braced himself before letting it out.

As he channelled his chakra into the tattoo they both saw the same slight blue glow that had been coming from the ink when it was in the bottles. It took him several minutes before he was able to create the 'spark' that the book said he needed to wake the tattoo and the moment he did Naruto felt the link between himself and the tattoo. He felt it in the back of his head, a warm sensation, almost like a line tying him the tattoo.

It started off small, a twitch at the end of the tail, the flick of the tongue and before either Naruto or Punchi knew what was happening the lizard moved an inch further down his arm. It was still a tattoo, still connected to his skin but it was moving.

Letting out a booming laugh, Punchi jumped up from his chair, tears once again falling don his face from behind his sun glasses as he watched the small lizard turn around on the young blonde's skin and slowly make its way towards his shoulder as if it was real. To him it was perhaps the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

As for Naruto he just stared at his shoulder, where the lizard had now settled, with wide eyes. He couldn't believe it, it worked. He had actually just used a jutsu! Tearing his eyes away from the small lizard to look at the tear stained face of Punchi, Naruto let lose one of the biggest grins towards the man.

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For the next month Naruto worked on his control over the lizard, both him and Punchi agreeing that he should learn to control it before they started adding more to his collection, though that didn't stop them from planning ideas for the future. When he wasn't in class Naruto spent almost all his time at the tattoo shop, either talking to Punchi or watching him give people tattoos. He was even learning from the man how to draw and in the future he said he would teach him how to do tattoos himself.

Naruto would sit in class for hours, seemingly staring off into space, as he discreetly controlled the movements of the lizard. Sometimes he would send it a mental command to move to a specific spot and others, though it was a lot harder, he would use one of the jutsu in the book to actually take over the lizard fully. It was called the 'Tattoo Possession Jutsu' and took a total of fifteen handseals to use, it had taken him two weeks to learn and he was still getting used to using it.

When he used the Jutsu he was able to both see and hear everything form the tattoos perspective, which tended to give him a headache because it was different to his normal vision. He was only able to focus on two or three sounds at a time, be it voices or something else, while everything else around him was muffled as if he was wearing ear plugs. His vision was different as well, everything had a slightly blue tinge to it and it was lick he was looking through the bottom of a bottle, things being slightly magnified in the middle of his eye compared to the rest. Another thing that he had found out from Punchi was that while using this technique the eyes of the lizard would turn the same colure as his own and seemed to glow ever so slightly, making them stand out a little.

The only other Jutsu he learned from the book so far was called 'Wandering Tattoo Jutsu' which was the basis for almost all Jutsu in the book. It took a total five handseals and gave Naruto the ability to separate himself from his tattoo, having it leave his skin and become an actual living thing, or at least as close as a tattoo of a lizard could, and have it move around. It took a considerable amount of concentration to control and Naruto found that while it was not a apart of him he didn't have enough to give it mental commands, at least not yet, and was forced to rely on vocal one instead.

One of the more interesting things about the 'Wandering Tattoo Jutsu' was that once it left the skin the tattoo was able to turn back into image with nothing more then a simple handseal from Naruto and whatever it was touching at the time, whether it was another persons skin, a table or even a wall it would simple melt into it and become nothing more then a picture until Naruto commanded it to return.

He hadn't told anyone about his new ability, not even the Hokage, and wasn't planning to any time soon. He was worried that they would try and stop him, be it grandfatherly concern for his safety from Sarutobi or fear and anger that he actually had such a skill from teachers and villagers. Until he was more in control and understood more of what he was doing Naruto decided to keep it a secrete.

He was very carful to only let the lizard move under his clothes so that it wouldn't be seen and never used any of his Jutsu outside of Punchi's shop, he even kept a bandage on his right arm under his clothes just in case it got rip to make sure it was hidden.

The moment the class ended Naruto shot out of his seat and ran out of the classroom straight to Punchi's studio.

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**Well that the end of the first chapter, hope you like it. At the moment Naruto can only really use Tattoos for spy, but later he will learn other things. I just didn't want to make him too strong.**

**I came up with the idea for Punchi as I was writing this chapter and thought, why not make him obsessed with his 'art' in a way similar, but not quite as extreme, as Deidara just for the fun of it. So I hope you all like him.**

**For those wondering why the people in the 'red light district' are nice to Naruto it's because they sympathise with him. They are the people everyone glares at so they now what it feels like to be hated and I decided to give him a reason to actually like the village other then the Sandaime and ramen.**

**R&R XD**


	2. Naruto's Familiar

**Just a quick note, I forgot to add this last chapter. I know Tattoos take time to heal and that Naruto shouldn't have been able to use the Lizard straight away, but since he has Kyuubi healing him I figured to hell with it, lol.**

**One more thing, when I first wrote this chapter I had Naruto as 12, but then went back and changed it to 13. Just letting you know in case I missed something :)**

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**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

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Chapter 2- Naruto's Familiar

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It had been six years since Naruto found the book in the Library and started train in 'Tattoo Jutsu', as he now called it, and had changed a lot over the years since then. The loud blonde who had once resorted to pulling pranks just so he could get attention was gone, though he did still pull the odd prank now and then, replaced they a quite boy that seemed to almost fade into the background at times if not for the way he looked. He no longer wore a plane white shirt and black shorts, having outgrown them, and had started to dress in a way not too different from his unofficial sensei, Punchi.

He wore and open vest much like the one the larger man wore, only his was blue instead of black, a pair of lose black pants so as not to restrict his movements and his stomach wrapped in bandages. He also wore sunglasses over his eyes, a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back with the leaf symbol engraved on them and a pair of steel toe capped black boots.

Unlike when he had first started to learn his 'Art', as Punchi insisted he call it, Naruto no longer hid his tattoos, though no one knew what he could do with them. On his right arm along with the lizard he had gotten all those years ago he also had a bat, a snake coiled around his forearm and a frog. On his left arm he now had a tattoo of a chain wrapped around his arm from his elbow to his shoulder and three blue eyeballs that always gave people the feeling of being watched on his forearm. But the one that stood out the most was the tattoo on his right shoulder.

On his shoulder was a tattoo of a woman in a red bikini top and short leather skirt that was too small to hide anything but the top of her legs held up with a blue belt, long red hair with two black horns sticking out of her head, black bat wings and a long tail. She was kneeling down; leaning forward slightly so that her cleavage was more prominent and sticking out over her right shoulder was the blade of a scythe and had bright blue eyes the exact same shade as Naruto's with a mischievous smirk on her lips with a fang pocking out one side of her mouth. This was actually a very important Tattoo to Naruto.

You see a year ago he finally preformed the ritual to summon his familiar. It was a long and complicated process which had required him to actually learn the basics of Seals before he was even able to attempt it. In order for him to summon a familiar he didn't actually have to tattoo an image onto his skin but a Seal that was in the book. He had spent months making sure he was ready before finally getting the nerve to do it and the result had been the red headed imp that now resided on his shoulder.

He could still remember the day he had come to class without covering his tattoos for the first time, Iruka had almost had a fit when he realised that they were real before he actually fainted, Naruto had laughed so hard when that happened.

After being given a lecture about how tattoos were for life and he was too young to have them, something he hadn't actually listened to, the lesson had continued as normal. After that day no one really paid him much attention, too busy worrying about their own lives to care about some no named orphan, and as far as Naruto was concerned that was a good thing because it stopped people from noticing the fact that his tattoos were sometimes in different places.

Today was the day of the graduation exam, something Naruto had been looking forward to for a long time because today was the day he would show what he could do. He had hidden his true potential for six years, knowing that if the civilian council found out that he was more then a dead last like he was pretending to be that they would find a way to interfere with his training. But if he was a ninja he would be out of their reach and there was nothing they could do about it.

His class was gathered outside for the first part of the test.

XXX

As he looking out over his class with a happy smile on his face Iruka explained what they would be doing.

"Alright everyone listen up, the first part of the test will weapon accuracy. You will be given ten Kunai and ten shuriken each and must try and hit as many of the targets as you can. I will also take this moment to remind you that even if you fail this part you will still have a chance to pass depending on the results of your other tests. Now can you all please get in a line and we will start."

They all got in line, Naruto staying at the back so he was last, and one by one took a turn at throwing the Kunai and shuriken. Most of the class only got four out of ten for each, with the exception of those that came from clans. Shino had scored seven with the kunai and eight with the shuriken, Hinata had scored seven with both, Kiba had scored eight with the kunai and seven with the shuriken, Ino only scored five with both, Choji scored six with both, Shikamaru scoring the same as his friend and finally Sasuke scored an eight with the kunai and a nine with the shuriken.

When it was finally Naruto's turn he could hear most of the class laughing behind his back, already expecting him to miss. He couldn't blame them, for the last six years he had been sure to almost never hit the targets so as not to draw attention to himself.

Letting a small smirk cross his face as he picked up the first kunai that only Iruka could see, though he didn't understand it, the blonde Uzumaki through threw the knife in his hand in one fluid movement, hitting the first target dead on. His smirk grew when he heard the laughter behind him stop suddenly as he others in his class stared at him in shock as he repeated this over and over again. When he was finished Naruto had scored eight with both.

He didn't miss the look that crossed Iruka's face as he walked away.

The next part of the exam was taijutsu. Iruka would pair them up before having them walk into a ring two at a time and take notes of everything they did. Like with the weapon throwing the kid from clans completely outclassed everyone else, until Naruto was called to the ring.

He had been paired with one of the boy from a civilian family, Naruto had never bothered to learn his name, and there wasn't really anything about him that stood out, brown hair and eyes, plan blue shirt and black shorts. He was taller then Naruto by about three inches and had confident smirk on his face as he looked down at his blonde opponent.

The moment Iruka called the mach to start the boy started talking.

"Don't think that just because you lucked out with the last test you stand a chance loser, your nothing-"

Before he even had a chance to finish what he was saying Naruto had ran up to him and punched him in the stomach, cutting his words off as he choked for the breath that was knocked out of him. Not given the boy a chance to recover the blonde followed up by spinning on the ball of his left foot and kicking him in the side of the head with his right before finishing by thrusting both palms into his chest, pushing him out of the ring.

As they all stared at him with wide eyes, the boy he had just beaten lying on the ground staring at him in complete shock as he coughed to try and regain his breath, Naruto just smirk.

"Next time spend less time talking and more fighting."

His piece said, Naruto turned his back to the boy and walked away.

The last test was the Jutsu exam, they were given a chose between performing the basic three Jutsu they had been taught in the academy or a Jutsu of their own. To be honest Naruto thought this was just another way to favour the kids from clans, seeing as for the most part they were the only ones with access to other Jutsu.

Just like with the other tests they took turns to come to the front of the class, most sticking with the basic three while those from clans preformed their own, Sasuke once again standing out from the rest when he preformed the 'Great Fireball Jutsu'.

When it was time for Naruto to come to the front of the class everyone went quite, not sure what to except after everything that had happened in the last two tests, so just watched as he slowly made his way down to the front to stand in front of Iruka.

"Alright if you could start off with the Tra-"

"I'm going to demonstrate my own Jutsu, if that's ok?"

Looking at the blonde in surprise, Iruka just nodded his head before taking a step back.

His smirk now turning to a grin, Naruto quickly went through several handseals before saying the name of his technique.

"Wandering Tattoo Jutsu!"

They all watched in complete shock as the bat tattoo on the blondes arm started to move, stretching its wings out before with a flash of chakra it 'jumped' off his skin, seeming to become a really bat as it did so, and started flying around the room. Several students were forced to duck as it flew over their heads and they all had to cover their ears when Sakura let out an ear splitting scream when it got too close to her. After letting it fly around the room for about a minute Naruto let out a loud whistle, which the bat returned with a screech, before it change course and flew back over to the blonde before landing on his arm back where it had been before and with one more hand seal the bat melted back onto his skin as if nothing happened.

Turning to look at Iruka, Naruto just raised an eyebrow at the older man, a small smirk on his face and after taking a moment to get over his shock the scard chunin handed him a headband from the box on his desk.

XXX

An hour later found Naruto sat in the Hokage's office with the old man himself looking at him with a blank expression on his face as he stared at the blonde boy. The moment the exams had ended Iruka had quickly pulled him to one side before taking him to the Hokage tower where, after waiting in the hall for half an hour while the chunin talked to the Hokage, he was brought to the old man's office.

Lacing his hands together in front of him as he leant forward and, letting out a small sigh as he looked at the casual expression on the boys face, Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at his surrogate grandson.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You would have been forced to inform the council and they would have tried to stop me, don't try and say otherwise old man because it's what they've been trying to do for years. I needed to wait until I was made a genin before I showed what I could do so I would be out of the civilian's jurisdiction."

Letting out a sigh the old Hokage reached for the pipe on his desk and lit it before leaning back in his chair. Naruto was right, if the council found out about his training in...whatever it was he learned, though he had an idea from what Iruka had told him, they would have demanded it be stopped.

Getting a sad look on his face Sarutobi nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I know you don't understand why they-"

"It because of the fox."

At his words the old Hokage almost swallowed his pipe as he gasped, coughing for a few minutes before he stared at Naruto with a mix of anger and fear. Anger at whoever told him about the fox and fear at how he would react to it.

"W-who told you about the fox?"

"No one did, which was a bit of a pain at first before I found out about it, but whatever. Did you really think I would have a giant nine tailed fox demon inside of me without noticing? Though I'll admit it took Kyuubi bringing me into the seal to put everything together."

His eyes widening, Sarutobi spoke in a voice little more then a whisper.

"You've met the fox?"

"Yh, about two years ago Kyuubi dragged me into the seal to talk. The normal stuff you know, 'let me out of this cage', 'why don't you just kill them all and be done with it', 'stop pocking me with that fucking stick', the usual."

When he was finished talking Naruto just gave a small shrug, as if talking to the most powerful demon in the world was perfectly normal. After a moment he let out another sigh, taking a deep puff from his pipe to help calm him down before looking to the blonde boy with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Naruto, I'd hoped that by keeping it secrete you would be able to live a relatively normal life, but I'm afraid I failed."

Sending the old man a small smile, Naruto leaned forward in his chair to get the old mans attention.

"Don't worry about it, I know you did what you thought was best and I can't ask for any more then that."

Nodding his head in gratitude Sarutobi wiped away a tear from his eyes before clearing his throat and sitting up straight in his seat again and adapting a more serious face.

"Thank you Naruto, that means a lot to me. Now to move back to the topic at hand, what can you tell me about the Jutsu you used in your exam?"

Before Naruto could answer he was interrupted when the tattoo of the girl on his arm stated to glow blue before she 'jumped' of his skin just like the bat had done in the class room. Using her wings to glide over to the desk, Sarutobi was forced to quickly grab his nose in an attempt to stop the nosebleed that had burst out his nostrils. Despite the fact she was only four inches tall she had the body of a teenager and the skimpy clothes she wore didn't help to hide much of it.

Turning to look back at Naruto, who was shaking his head in exasperation, the small imp grinned at him before waving.

"Hey Naru-kun!"

Her voice was very high, almost as if she had been breathing helium, and she seemed to have an air of excitement around her as she waved to the blonde. Shaking his head, Naruto just let out a sigh, though the small smile on his face was in plane sight for all to see.

"Jaki, I though we agreed you would stay in Tattoo form until I explained more to the old man. Why did you come out early?"

Crossing her arms under her large chest, coursing them to almost jump out of her bikini top, the now identified Jaki pouted at him, a slightly hurt look on her face as she looked at her feet.

"Jaki wanted to stretch her legs, it's so boring in Tattoo form and you said after today Jaki wouldn't have to hide anymore. If Jaki had know you would just be mean to her she would've just stayed put."

Letting out a sigh in defeat, Naruto just nodded his head.

"Fine...I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you."

It was as if a switch had been hit as Jaki's entire attitude changed from sad and depressed to bright and bubbly in an instant and, sending a large grin at Naruto, she jumped from the table straight into his chest, her arms outstretched in the closes thing to a hug the smaller girl could give him.

"Jaki forgives you Naru-kun!"

Watching the whole thing in silence, though that was mostly because of the shock at what was happening in front of him, Sarutobi coughed into his had to remind the two he was there before chuckling at the embarrassed look on Naruto's face, though Jaki just sent him a grin.

"I take it this little lady is one of your techniques; I must admit I am impressed, I wasn't expecting her to have a mind of her own."

Walking so that she was standing on Naruto's knee, the imp like girl put her hands on her hip and pocked her tongue out at him, coursing both him and the blonde to laugh, Naruto shaking his head slightly at his Familiar's antics.

"Jaki's special, she's not a tattoo exactly, more like my personal summon. She's the only one that is truly self-aware, all my other tattoos run off of instinct and orders. It's like they are only shadows while Jaki her is the real thing."

Turning back to look at the Hokage with her arms once again crossed under her chest, almost giving the old man yet another nosebleed, the red haired girl smirked at him.

"That's right Jaki's special, so don't go getting any ideas you old pervert! Jaki saw you getting a nose bleed! Pervert! Pervert! Pervert!"

Naruto didn't know if he should laugh at the face Sarutobi was making right now or run because his familiar had just insulted the strongest ninja in the village. In the end he went for the first, seeing his grandfather in all but blood sporting a full body blush was just too good an opportunity to pass up and before he could stop himself Naruto was rolling around on the floor, Jaki right next to him.

After several minutes of laughing at the old mans expense they were brought out of it when Sarutobi cleared his throat loudly to get their attention, a small blush still stretching across his cheeks.

"If you are both finished laughing at my expense can we continue?"

After getting a nod from both of them, he continued.

"Good, now you've told me that...Jaki here is different from your other tattoos and that she is more like a summon, so what can you tell me about your others. Iruka told me that you had the tattoo of the bat on your arm fly around the room?"

Smiling at the memory of his 'classmates' faces as they ducked under his bat, Jaki now sat comfortably on his shoulder gigging, Naruto nodded.

"I can use any tattoo on my body, animals are easier to use because I can give them simple commands. With more training I will be able to do it mentally but so far the best I can do is jesters and sounds to help direct them and when they merge back onto my skin I can learn what they have seen, done and heard while off my skin."

At the last part Sarutobi couldn't help the interested gleam that came to his eyes.

He had hear about people using tattoo based Jutsu before, though he like most had assumed it was a bloodline, back in the second war but it was also thought to have been lost in the war to. No one had seen it used since and it had been thought lost to the world, all the users having died. It wasn't that they were weak, the opposite in fact, but not much was known about art and one day it just seemed to disappear. But even Sarutobi, The Professor, didn't even realise the full potently of this Jutsu until now. Even without any offensive or defensive Jutsu, which he was sure there were, it seemed to be the perfect Jutsu for information gather, one of the best he had ever heard of and he didn't even know much about it yet.

Letting out a sigh, the old Hokage asked his last question.

"Naruto, where did you even find the knowledge to learn this technique?"

At his question Naruto got a nervous look on his face.

"I found a book about it in the library six years ago and kind of stole it when the Librarian almost caught me. I ran before she could throw me out."

Getting another sad look on his face at the fact the blonde couldn't even go to a public library without something happening, the old Hokage nodded his head in understand.

"I understand, well that's all for now so you can go. Remember to be at the academy in one week for team placements."

Standing up and giving the old man a small bow, Naruto turned and left the room, Jaki waving over his shoulder.

"Later yah old perv!"

Neither saw the large sweat drop on the back of the old Hokage's head as the door closed.

XXX

After his meeting Naruto headed straight to Punchi's shop, Jaki once again in tattoo form as he made his way through the streets of Konoha. Though she didn't like it the little imp understood his weariness to have her sat on his shoulder as he walked around the village, after all most of the civilians already thought him to be a demon, he didn't want to have to deal with their reactions to Jaki.

Like he did every time he walked through the village the blonde kept his head down and tried to avoid eye contact, walking at a quick pace until he reached the 'red light' district and slowed down. It still made him laugh that he was more confinable in a place full of muggers and prostitutes then he was when surrounded by 'upstanding' citizens. He gave nods to the people he knew as he made his way through the streets, high fiving one man that looked like he lived on the street as he passed before tossing him what was left of his lunch from the academy. The man just smile, nodded, and said congratulations when he saw the headband tied to the blondes head.

If nothing else could be said about the people in the red light district it was that they looked out for each other, everyone had everyone's back, at least to some extent, and Naruto sometimes wondered if this was what having a family felt like.

When he finally made it to the shop the whiskered blonde just walked straight through the door without even knocking, made his to the backroom and as he came to the door smile when he saw one of the usual customers leaning against the wall.

She had short blonde hair, a slim body and, as Punchi would say, mile long legs. She wore a light green tank top that stopped just above her bellybutton, which left the tattoo of a spider web on her stomach in plane sight, under a black jacket, tight blue jeans and high heel boots. She gave him a small smile as he walked over, her green eyes shining slightly and Naruto let out a sigh, knowing what she was going to do. Her name was Kawa and she had been coming to the shop since before he had even met Punchi.

"Hey Naruto-kun, I see you passed your exam. Maybe I should take you out to celebrate, after all with that shinny metal on your head you're aloud to drink now."

She suggested with a small smirk.

Naruto just smiled and shock his head at her antics. If you asked anyone that knew Kawa to describe her in one word that word would always be 'Tease'. She liked to get in peoples heads and make them blush, enjoying their embarrassment, and most of the time she didn't mean anything by it.

Before he could even reply, Naruto found the side of his face being held in a death grip by a once again unsealed Jaki, her small frame hugging itself to the side of his head as she glared at the older woman in front of them.

"Stay away from Jaki's Naru-kun, pervert!"

Letting out a loud laugh at the scene, and the look on Narutos face as he shook his head at the small imps antics, Kawa smiled before lifting her hands in the air in surrender.

"Ok, I give up."

Naruto just sent her a blank look.

"You know it's your fault she calls everyone pervert, if you didn't teach her that word my life would be so much easier."

Laughing again, the older blonde pulled the smaller boy to her side in a one armed hug before ruffling his hair.

"Yh but who wants and easy life, that would just be boring. Besides if you're going to make the poor girl wear something like that she should know what a pervert is."

Getting a tick mark above his eyebrow, Naruto pushed her off of him before glaring at her good naturedly, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't make her wear anything."

Now sitting on his shoulder again, Jaki sent him a beaming smile.

"But if he did Jaki would still wear this."

At her words Kawa was practically bent over laughing as Naruto just smacked a hand into his face before giving up and just walking though the door into the workshop, setting his stuff in a corner before making his way over to the desk. He saw the note left on it from Punchi and quickly read through it, another tick mark forming on his head as he did.

XXX

_Naruto_

_I'm leaving you in charge of the shop for the afternoon while I run a few errands; remember to lock up when you're done._

_Punchi_

_P.S. Kawa's coming by today for some more work; don't do anything I wouldn't do._

XXX

In the corner of the note was a small chibi Punchi with a large grin on his face giving him the peace sign with his right hand. Ever since he had first walked into the shop Punchi had been teaching him everything he knew about his 'art', and had even started getting Naruto to tattoo customers after the first two yeas of his training.

Throwing the note in a bin, the blonde turned around to find Kawa already sat on the table/bed that they used for customers looking at him with a small smirk on her face.

"I take it your working on me today?"

He moved around the room getting everything ready, Jaki flying over to sit next to the older blonde, Naruto nodded his head.

"Yeh, Punchi's out on errands so I'm working today. You know the drill."

Smirking as she took off her jacket and tank top, Kawa chuckled before lying down on her stomach as the younger blonde pulled up a chair next to her.

Now that her back was exposed it revealed a large, intricate tattoo of what looked to be a half finished tree. It started at her lower back, going up her spine before the branches covered her shoulder blades and right arm. Although it wasn't finished, several details left to do and colure adding, it was still beautiful.

"You know normally a guy would have to buy me at _least_ three drinks before they get my shirt off, you should feel lucky."

Naruto just shook his head, ignoring her words in favour of getting to work.

XXX

The week before the team placements went by pretty quick for Naruto. He did a few more jobs on people, trained, and basically just went on like usual. Punchi had thrown a small party the day after he graduated, inviting several people he met over the years but other then that nothing really happened.

He was now sat in his, soon to be, old classroom as the others that had passed the exam came in and didn't glance up as Sasuke took the seat next to him. They both just sat in silence, though Naruto didn't miss the way the Uchiha kept looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Apparently even the Rookie of the Year had become curious about his abilities after what had happened last week.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, when the sound of footsteps running down the corridor reached the classroom that the silence was broken with the arrival of Sakura and Ino, the two worst fangirls in his class. They both stepped through the door at the same time, after a little pushing and pulling as they got stuck in the door because they tried to come in at the same time, the two girls then broke into a loud argument about who was first and should get to sit next to Sasuke.

It went on for several minutes before the two even realised that he was sat there and when they did both girls quickly sent him a glare, apparently forgetting about what had happened in the exam, and stormed up to him before Sakura practically screamed in his face.

"Naruto-baka get out of my seat, I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun."

The blonde didn't even look at her as he quickly ran through handseals, the snake tattoo on his arm starting to move. Unlike the other time he used this Jutsu the snake didn't 'jump' off his skin, but instead slowly started slither out. Its scales were pitch black, almost seeming to pull the light around it in, with purple eyes and when it was finally finished climbing out of Narutos skin it was two foot long. It moved off his arm and onto the desk before turning to look at the two now terrified girls, flicking its tongue out at them a few times before hissing a warning.

Both Sakura and Ino let out a scream before running to the other side of the classroom while several others tried to hide their laughter.

XXX

**I was going to right a bit more in this chapter but changed my mind. It seemed like a good place to stop. Hope you all like Jaki (I found an only translator so it's _supposed_ to mean Imp), and the other oc's I'm using.**

**I know this was a bit of a filler chapter but I decided to take my time with this to help build up the story; also I was able to add a bit of humour in which is always good.**

**I will warn you all now that the next chapter will take a little longer to come out, I already had this one half finished when I uploaded the first chapter.**

**I am also toying with the idea of Naruto giving his teammates familiar tattoos or not so I am putting am putting up a poll to help me decide so please go and vote. I already have an idea what they can be if I do but I'm not sure yet :)**

**Hope you like it so far :)**

**R&R XD**


	3. Teams

**Here's the next chapter, hope you all like it. I also went back and did another check on the first two chapters to try and get some of the mistakes :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 3-Teams

XXX

"Team 7 is Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka; your jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki; your jonin sensei is Kurenai Yuhi. Team nine is still in circulation at the moment so finally Team 10 is Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka; your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. You all need to wait here until your new sensei come to pick you up, good luck."

With that Iruka left the room, closing the door behind him as he went, and before long they all started moving to sit with their new teammates. The moment Naruto stood up Sakura practically jumped into his seat and started pestering Sasuke for a date, the blonde sending the young Uchiha a sympathetic look as he walked away.

Naruto didn't actually have any problem with Sasuke, if anything he felt sorry for him, the boy had lost his entire family in one night after all. That's not to say the way he locked everyone out was a good thing, but he understood.

He had never really talked to either Shino or Hinata, even though they had been in the same class for years, so he thought it would be interesting if nothing else. From what he knew of Hinata she was a shy girl that although had decent skill, lacked the confidence to use it and Shino was quiet but above average. While Shino was almost exactly the same to what people thought of his clan Hinata was a complete contradiction to the normally stoic Hyuga.

Walking over to take the seat next to the quite bug boy, Naruto held out his hand to shake.

"I hope we can learn to work together."

After a moment of thought, in which Shino looked from the offered hand to the blonds covered eyes, the young Aburame nodded his head and without a word shook hands. After that Naruto offered his hand to Hinata, but the moment she looked at his face her face turned bright red and she fainted, slumping into her seat, so shrugging his shoulders he quickly checked her pulse before nodding to himself and sitting back in his seat to wait for their new sensei in silence.

It was only a few minutes later that the door opened and a group off men and women came in and one by one they each called out the name of their team.

"Team 8 with me"

Naruto, Shino and a now awake Hinata stood up as one and made their way over to a beautiful woman with long black hair, red eyes and looked to be wearing a cross between bandages and a kimono with one red sleeve and a pair of black shorts. When she saw that all three were present, and after shaking hands with Naruto when he offered, her eyes widening slightly when she saw him up close, Kurenai turned around and without a word left the classroom, the three new genin following.

She led them to training ground 8, a decent sized clearing surrounded by trees with a small lake in the middle. After walking over to a tree and sitting down in the shade it provided, the red eyes jonin looked to the three of them with a small smile as they joined her.

"Right, I think we should start with introductions, I'll go first. My name is Kurenai Yuhi, I specialize in Genjutsu, I like learning new Genjutsu and my friends, I hate it when people look down on me because I'm a woman and my dream is to prove that women can be just as good ninja as men."

When she was finished Kurenai looked to Shino and gave him a nod to go next.

"My name is Shino Aburame, I specialize in my can Jutsu, I like learning about different kinds of bugs and learning my clan Jutsu, I don't like people that kill bugs for no reason and pesticides and my dream is to be a good clan head in the future."

Smiling at the stoic boy, the red eyed jonin turned to Hinata.

"M-my name is H-H-Hinata H-Hyuga, I s-specialize in my c-clans fighting s-style, I like my l-little sister and making h-herbal remedies in m-my spare time, I-I don't like p-people that judge others b-before g-getting to know them and my d-dream is t-to one day m-m-mend the gap b-between the t-two half's of my c-clan."

Nodding her head, and making a mental note to help her get over her stutter if they passed her test, Kurenai turned to the last member of her team.

She had actually been surprised when the Hokage changed the teams at the last minute, originally she was supposed to have the Inuzuka on her team as a tracker/heavy hitter, but for some reason that was changed and she ended up with Naruto instead. All Kurenai knew about him was that he used some kind of Jutsu that had something to do with his tattoos.

Her mind did a quick flashback to the first time she had met the blonde, though it was four years ago now the boy had definitely left an impression, in more ways then one. Without even realising she was doing it Kurenai rubbed her right shoulder under her red sleeve.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I specialize in 'Living Tattoo Jutsu', or just 'Tattoo Jutsu' for short, I like my friends, Jaki and training, I hate people that use others as a scapegoat for their anger and can't tell the difference between a kunai and a storage seal and my dream is to be strong enough to protect myself and the things that are important to me."

Putting aside her curiosity of what his Jutsu could do for later, Kurenai took a moment to think about her team. Shino and Hinata were obviously intelligence and tracking specialists in the making, what with his bug and her bloodline, but Naruto was still a complete mystery. Until a week ago he wasn't thought to even be able to pass the Academy exam so obviously he had enough skill to fool everyone into underestimating him, a valuable skill for any ninja to have, and the Hokage seemed to think that he was better suited for this team then any of the others so she could only assume he had some kind of tracking and intelligence gathering ability she didn't know about yet.

Nodding to her self, Kurenai slowly stood up before pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket and putting it on the ground in front of them before flashing through handseals and disappearing in a swirl of wind.

After shearing a confused look with his two new teammates, Naruto picked up the piece of paper Kurenai had left and read it out loud.

XXX

_You are in a test to determine whether you are truly ready to become genin, you have exactly one hour to find me and if you are not able to do so you will be sent back to the Academy for another year of training._

_Good luck._

XXX

After he read out the message Naruto couldn't help the sigh that escaped his lips, before turning to see the ever stoic face of Shino and the worried face of Hinata.

"She must have left the note so you wouldn't have time to put any of your bugs on her and if she's as skilled as she said she is in Genjutsu then I doubt Hinata's Byakugan is strong enough yet to see through her Jutsu."

After taking a moment to consider his words, Shino nodded his head in agreement.

"That seems the most logical conclusion; because of her untimely exit I was not able to have one of my females attach itself to her. I could send out a swarm but without having some indication of where she is it would be a waste of both time and my chakra."

They both looked to Hinata, who let out a small 'eep' at suddenly becoming the centre of attention and her face turned bright red, but luckily she was able to push it done and activate her Byakugan. It was only up for a moment, in which the shy girl noticed something odd about her blonde teammate's tattoos but decided not to say anything, before she let it go, a disappointed look on her face.

"I-I'm sorry, I c-can't fine her."

At her words Shino turned back to Naruto.

"It I clear from both Hinata's and my placement on this team, along with the nature of the test we are being give, that we are expected to be a tracking/information gathering team. Therefore it is only logical that you yourself must have some kind of method that you are able to use to that end."

His lips turning up in a small smirk, Naruto turned his head to the right, looking at the imp tattoo on his shoulder.

"Jaki, you know what to do."

What surprised his new teammate the most about what happened next was the fact that he didn't actually use any handseals, yet the red headed girl jumped off his skin and, using her wings, floated in the air in front of them.

"Ok Naru-kun, you marked her before she went so it shouldn't take Jaki more then a sec."

Before either Shino or Hinata could ask what they were talking about the small imp closed her eyes and got a look of concentration on her face. After about ten seconds had passed she opened her eyes and a large grin sped across her face.

"Found her!"

The moment the words left her lips Jaki flew to the right of the group only to stop about ten feet away from where they were standing and pointed at thin air. A moment later Kurenai shimmered into existence right where the imp was pointing, a smile on her face. She had been there the entire time watching them and had to admit she was impressed, though even more confused about Naruto's abilities then before.

Walking back over to the three, well four if you count the little imp now sitting on the blondes shoulder with a smile on her face, Kurenai congratulated them before turning to face Naruto completely and nodded her head towards Jaki.

"Who is she and how was she able to find me?"

Getting an annoyed expression on her face, the little imp stood up on the blondes shoulder before crossing her arms under her chest and sending a glare at Kurenai that looked more cute then intimidating.

"Jaki is right here, you shouldn't talk like she isn't?"

Looking a little surprised at the outburst, Kurenai was about to apologise before she was stopped by Naruto talking first.

"She didn't mean anything by it Jaki, just calm down."

Puffing her cheeks out and turning to Naruto with a pout before letting out a huff, sitting back down and turning away from the both of them. Shaking his slightly at the way she was acting, Naruto turned back to Kurenai with an apologetic look on his face before explaining what had happened in her test.

"Jaki isn't like my other tattoos, she's more like my personal summon that turns into a tattoo, and has the ability to sense my tattoos wherever they are after they leave my skin, even if their hidden under a genjutsu and miles away, Jaki can find it."

Nodding her head at his explanation Kurenai was about to ask what he meant about her being different from his other tattoo's before her eyes narrowed slightly, rubbing her right shoulder as something he said finally sunk in.

"That still doesn't explain how she was able to find me."

Smirking, Naruto reached out and took Kurenai's right arm before pulling the bandages that were covering it off and pointing to a spot on her forearm. She had to squint to see it, but when she did her eyes widened in shock. There on her forearm was a small black dot, no bigger then a pinhead. She pulled her arm back to get a closer look and tried to wipe it off with her thumb, but nothing happened, Shino and Hinata looking over her shoulder as she tried and when she looked back to Naruto, the whiskered teen just took off his right glove and held up the back of his hand for all three's inspection.

On the back of his had as a circle of small black dots, exactly like the one on the red eyed jonin's arm, slowly spinning around.

"I came up with this idea after I learned what Jaki could do and keep them active at all times just in case I need to use then. Because their only small to it take almost no chakra at all to use them and I place one on you and Shino earlier when I shook your hands and Hinata when I checked her pulse after she fainted."

At his words both Shino and Hinata rolled up the sleeves on their right arms to find the exact same mark that they had seen on their sensei.

Frowning slightly, Kurenai locked eyes with her blonde student, at least she tried to but his sunglasses prevented her from seeing his.

"Way did you mark the three of us before you even know about the second test?"

Raising an eyebrow so that they could see it pocking out from behind his shades, Naruto let out a small chuckle as he pulled the glove back on.

"I did it for the same reason I'm sure Shino has placed at least one of his female bugs on each of us by now, as a precaution. It so if anything happens on a mission or I need to find any of you quickly, I can."

Both girls turned to look at the bug boy, who was still inspecting the dot on his arm before he looked up at them.

"It is true; I have placed a female bug on each of you in case of emergencies, I have had one on both Naruto-san and Hinata-san since we left he classroom but was unable to place one on Kurenai-sansei until a few moment ago."

Frowning at both boys, Kurenai shook her head before letting out a sigh.

"The next time either of you do something like this ask for permission first when dealing with comrades, understand?"

When they both gave her a nod the red eyed woman let a small smile cross her lips.

"Good, now I need to go and inform the Hokage that you passed and that Team 8 is now officially active. I want you to meet me here tomorrow at 6am for our first day of training."

Without waiting for them to answer, Kurenai once again disappeared leaving the three genin, and imp, in the training field. They stayed there for about another minute before both Shino and Naruto walked off, nodding to each other and Hinata before going there own way. Neither of his new teammates seemed to notice the small smile on the blondes face as he walked away.

XXX

**Flashback- four years ago**

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_It had been two years since Naruto had started training in the 'Living Tattoo Jutsu', two years since he had first met Punchi and started training under him. From the first day they met the old man had been teaching Naruto his 'Art', starting with him copying simple designs on paper that the man had given his until he was able to create his own designs, which several of the customers that had been to the hop had requested when they had seen them displayed on the wall. He hadn't actually tattooed anyone himself yet, though Punchi had told him he as almost ready, because he was still sharpening his skills by using pig skin seeing as it was the closest thing to the real thing he could get._

_They had all kinds of people come to get tattoos; the blonde didn't now it when they first met but Punchi was actually very well know throughout the village as the best. Naruto saw people walk in off the street, people that had travelled from outside the village and even Konoha ninja walk through that door._

_The first time a ninja had showed up Naruto had been surprised because there were actually several other tattoo studios in the village, and most of them were in a lot more respectable area then Punchi's. But it turned out they mostly did weight and storage seal tattoos._

_He had added two more tattoos since he started training, though they were hidden under bandages, a snake coiled around his right arm and an eye on his left. The eye had actually been his idea, after reading about how he could use his tattoos as spies Naruto had decided to experiment with different ideas. The eye could move on its own when it was on skin, be it his or someone else's, and walls, but when he brought it out it was little more then an eye. He was still trying to figure a way to fix the problem._

_He was sat in the corridor just inside the door at a small desk Punchi had set up for him to practice his sketching while he kept his ears open encase anyone came. At the moment he was looking through the book on 'Living Tattoo Jutsu', reading the chapter on familiars and the different ability that had been recorded before the Just died out, looking at the pictures of each individual that was next to the descriptions. There was one that looked like a cross between a gecko and a man that had had the ability to blend in with its surroundings; one that looked like a little girl with small wings that could move with the speed of a humming bird and even one that looked like a red demon that had been able to summon fire at will._

_He was just looking at a picture of what looked like a cross between a lizard and a rock when he heard someone knocking on the door. He quickly put the book into the small pouch on his leg before moving to the door, as he approached Naruto could hear two voices, clearly female, arguing on the other side._

"_I'm still not so sure this is a good idea Anko."_

"_Oh stop your worrying nai-chan, its tradition. This guy is supposed to be one of the best so there's nothing to worry about."_

_Letting a small smile cross his lips as he opened the door, Naruto looked at two women stood in front of him with a raised eyebrow, not sure what two think. They looked to be about fourteen or fithteen and were both kunoichi, which was made clear by their headbands and the chunin flack jacket the one with red eyes was wearing over some kind of sleeveless kimono top, but what court him off guard was the purple haired girl that was only wearing a brown trench coat, a dark orange short skirt and a see-through mesh shirt that did nothing to hide her developing figure._

_The two girls both turned to look at him when they heard the door open and both took on identical looks of surprise at the sight of the nine year old blonde boy stood in the doorway, the red eyed one turned to check the plack next to the door before turning back to him with a confused look on her face._

"_Is this the Tattoo studio?"_

_When she saw him nod his head the red eyed teen frowned._

"_Then what are you doing here, are you the owners son or something?"_

_Letting out a sigh Naruto stepped to one side to give then enough space to walk through the door._

"_No, now are coming in or not?"_

_After sending a look to each other, the purple haired teen with a huge grin on her face while the red eyed one just look unsure, they both walked in and after Naruto closed the door behind them followed the blonde to the back of the store._

"_Hey old man, we got a newly blooded kunoichi and her friend here for her first tattoo."_

_Both girls looked at the blonde with wide eyes when they hear what he said._

"_H-how did you know?"_

"_Because of the look in your eyes girl, you're not the first to come to me after their first kill, the kids spent enough time here to recognise the look a ninja get in their eye when they take a life for the first time."_

_They both turned to look at the large man sat at the desk in the corner of the room, his back turned to them as he finished sketching something on a piece of paper in front of him. He stayed like that for a few minutes, not even bothering to look at them until he let out a sigh, put his pencil down and turned to look at them with a bored expression before standing up and turning to Naruto with a small frown on his face. He raised an eyebrow above the rim of his glasses when he saw that the blonde was staring intently at a spot on the purple haired girl's neck with a slightly dazed look._

"_Get everything ready kid while I talk to them"_

_Snapping out of his trance, Naruto nodded and quickly moved around the room getting everything ready, Punchi moved to stand next to the two teens as they watched the small boy as he sterilized the equipment and put several bottles of ink on the tray next to the bed/table._

"_So you do you have an idea of what you want? Most tend to go for village symbol but if that's all you wanted you'd have been better off going to the studio in the village centre because a monkey could do that and I find it insulting when asked."_

_When the red eyed girl didn't respond right away the one with the purple hair elbowed her friend in the side._

"_Come on Kurenai-chan"_

_Sending a small glare at her friend, the now identified Kurenai looked back at the large man in front of her with a nervous look on her face._

"_I haven't really thought about it..."_

_A small smirk came to Punchi's face at her words before he looked over his shoulder to Naruto, thinking for a moment, before turning back to the two girls._

"_Would you be willing to let the kid do your tattoo? He's been training under me for two years now so he knows what he's doing, you don't even have to pick anything, he'll do it all and in return it'll be no charge, what do you say?"_

_Kurenai sent an unsure look at the blonde boy, not sure if it was such a good idea to let a kid give her a tattoo but didn't want to offend him, especially when she saw him looking at the three of them with a surprised yet hopeful expression on his face, who new boys were able to use the 'Puppy Eyes Jutsu'. After thinking it over for a few minutes the red eyed teen nodded her head a little nervously, all if it turned out badly she could always go to the Konoha hospital and have it removed._

"_Ok"_

_Patting her on the shoulder with a gentle smile on his face, Punchi pulled her over to the table/bed before having her lay down on her back. When she was comfortable he reached down and did something that made it go lower to the floor so it was easily in Naruto's reach. When he was do Punchi took several steps back so he was standing next to the purple haired kunoichi and sent a small nod to the boy for him to start._

_Moving so that he was stood next to her head, Kurenai watched as the boy just stood there for a full minute, just staring into her eyes without blinking once with a look of heavy concentration on his face, before nodding to himself and adjusting the seat so it was a chair and taking a seat on her right._

"_Don't look until I say so, I want it to be a surprise."_

_For the next hour the only sounds in the room were a buzzing sound from the electric needle in Naruto's hand and the occasional sharp intake of breath from Kurenai. It wasn't that it really hurt, after all she had been injured enough times from both training a missions, but after a while the small pain in her shoulder where he was drawing the tattoo had become a dull ach that was getting on her nerves that only stopped when he would pull away to either get more ink or wipe the blood away. She didn't look at her arm the whole time he was working, though he did glace at his face a couple of times and saw the sweat that was building on his forehead, just like he had asked._

_Finally, after what seemed to have been hours to Kurenai, the buzzing stopped and Naruto let out a sigh before standing up and taking a step back to admire his work. For a moment she couldn't bring herself to look, not sure what to expect and wondering if she had made a terrible mistake by letting him give her a tattoo. She heard the sound of footsteps coming closer before stopping a few feet away._

"_...Now that, is true art kid."_

_Recognising the voice as belonging to Punchi, Kurenai steeled her nerves, taking in a deep breath before turning her head to look at her shoulder, letting out a small gasp at what she saw._

_On her arm just below her shoulder blade was a tattoo of a red rose, with a green stem, a single leaf and several curved thorns with blood red tips. But what really drew the eye to it was the fact that it had blood dripping from its petals, a single drop of blood having landed on the leaf and running down the crease to the tip leaving a trail of red. It was horrifyingly beautiful and for some reason she couldn't stop the shiver that ran up her spine, for reasons she couldn't explain, it just seemed to fit perfectly._

_When she heard Anko give a whistle of admiration, Kurenai was finally able to tear he eyes away from the tattoo, not even realizing that several minutes had passed._

"_I got to admit, the kid's good. Maybe I should let him do me sometime."_

_Eventually her eyes landed on the blonde boy, who was standing next to the door with a nervous look on his face as his eyes moved from the tattoo to her face over and over again. She sent him a smile, which he returned after a moment, though it he still looked unsure, before he turned and left the room without a word._

XXX

**End Flashback**

XXX

As he walked into the back room Naruto sent a nod to Punchi, who was in the middle of tattooing a man's leg and after collecting his book from a locked draw on the desk let the room. After making himself comfortable at his own desk next to the door Naruto opened the book and started looking through the section on offensive techniques.

But before he can read more then a few word, Jaki pulled herself off of his skin and sat on his shoulder.

"Why did only tell them part of what Jaki can do Naru-kun?"

Letting out a sigh, the whiskered teen put his book down on the desk and ran a hand through his hair, taking a moment to think of the best way to explain it.

"I still don't trust them yet, maybe one day I will but not yet, and until I do it's best to keep some things to ourselves. What did you pick up from them?"

Closing her eyes as if trying to remember something, the small redhead folded her arms under her chest before leaning her back against the side of his face.

"Not much to tell, red eyed lady is at 5.6, average jonin, determined. Bug boy is a 2.6, very good for a genin, calm and collected. As for white eyes, she's average, 2.5 like most genin though she has potential I guess, gentle and insecure, Jaki thinks she will improve one day but until then she will be average at best."

Nodding his head in understanding, Naruto sat back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the desk as he thought over the information he was given, barely noticing the fact Jaki had moved from his shoulder and had settled on the top of his head, snuggling into his hair.

XXX

**That's the end of this chapter, hope you all enjoyed.**

**I know people will be asking me about Jaki's power, don't worry it will be explained in a later chapter. I will say now that it's not mind reading, and the numbers are references to their skill level, but other then that you will jus have to wait and see. (Evil grin) XD**

**The whole flashback thing with Kurenai was an idea given to me by '****Psudocode Samurai****', so a big thank you to him :). At the moment I'm not sure what the pairing will be, though I don't plan on it being Kurenai, just to let you know before people start asking me.**

**R&R :)**


	4. Indigestion

**Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it. A bit of a fight in this one, though not much and you get to see one of Naruto's made Jutsu in it :)**

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**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

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Chapter 4- Indigestion

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After team 8 became an official genin team they spent the first week training, learning what they could about each others skills and weaknesses, how best to work together and going over drills to make sure they knew what to do in any given situation. Kurenai had learnt more about Narutos abilities with his tattoos and the fact that he was about to use them as spies had fascinated her and explained why he had been put on her team in the first place.

They would meet at their privet training ground everyday at six am, spend the first hour doing warm up exercises before moving on to basic body conditioning by running laps or lifting small weights. They spent two hours doing that before moving on to light spares, normally Shino vs. Naruto and Kurenai vs. Hinata, though they did change it up a few times, before they had launch.

In the afternoon Kurenai would spend two hours talking with the three genin about different situations that they may find themselves in while on missions and then have then explain what they would do in them, often correcting where needed but for the most part just listening. After that they would spend another two hours running team formations, switching between protection, travel or even battle, they would run through them over and over again until the red eyed jonin was satisfied that they were imprinted on her teams brains, before ending the day with another body conditioning session before they were dismissed.

At the end of each day Kurenai didn't know what surprised her most, the fact that her team never complained about the training, or the fact that no matter what she had him do Naruto never even seemed to break a sweat. She had him doing three times as much conditioning as Shino and Hinata but he always did it seemingly without effort, he never lost a spar against Shino no matter what handicap she decided to give him and he seemed to almost always have the right solution to her metaphorical missions. It was a far cry from the dead last academy student that many thought wouldn't pass the genin exam that the blonde had tricked everyone into thinking him to be.

At first Kurenai was worried about what the blondes obvious superior skills when compared to her other genin would do to her team dynamic, but after a few days she realised that it was a blessing. Instead of becoming jealous of him, Shino and Hinata had started to push themselves even harder to try and catch up to him and because of that they had made tremendous improvements in just the first week of training.

When she had been satisfied that they were making good progress in their training Kurenai had started taking them on D rank missions, just simple things like shopping for civilians that were sick or old, helping a farmer clear his field of stone so he could start planting, normal D rank missions. It when they had been given the mission to catch Tora the cat for the third time that the team had learned something else about Naruto. They had just caught the little devil cat when Kurenai suggested that it might be a good idea if Naruto placed one of his 'Tracker Tattoos', as they had taken to referring to the dots on his hands, on Tora so that they would be able to find him easier if they were given the mission again at a later date.

The look of absolute horror that came to the blondes face when he turned to her had shocked all three of his teammates before say that it would be an insult to his 'Art' to waste ink on something as mundane as tracking a cat, which wasn't even a real mission, and that he would never lower himself to such a thing. Needless to say they had all started being a lot more carful of what they said around the boy after that so as not to insult his 'Art', Naruto had looked like an Akimichi when they heard the word fat.

It wasn't until after the first month had passed that Kurenai decided they were ready for their first C rank mission, and even then she had been carful to wait until the right one came in. The red eyed jonin had decided that her team's first real mission should be something based around what they had been formed to be, an information and tracking team, but the thing is most of the missions that required such things were normally B rank and higher.

That was why it took so long to find the right one.

The mission was simple enough; they were to infiltrate a small bandit camp that had set themselves up on the border between Fire and River country. It was suspected that they were part of a larger group that had been raiding towns and merchant caravans all over the elemental nations. The thing that worried the Hokage was that if this was true it they were all connected, they were too organized for simple bandits. Not to say all bandits were stupid, some could be great tacticians, but when you get as large a group as they feared this one was working together, it usually meant that a ninja was involved to help keep them all in line and stop them from killing each other.

After travelling to a small village just inside Fire country near to where the camp had last been spotted, team 8 had set up a base of operations in the local hotel and spent the first day discussing what the best course of action would be. That's how Naruto ended up walking through the forest towards the bandit camp, his arms covered in bandages to hide his tattoos, a poorly crafted battle axe tied to his back and his headband back in the hotel room. His usual blue vest was replaced with an old brown one that looked to be older then him and pair of torn black pants was the only clothes he had on alone with his usual fingerless gloves.

The biggest problem they had with getting information out of bandits was that they didn't know if any of them actually had the information that they needed and if they really were apart of a larger group attacking them would send the rest into hiding. That meant they needed a way to get what they needed without alerting any of the other groups.

That's where Naruto dressing like a bandit came into the plan.

The plan was for the blonde tattoo user to join the bandits and slowly probe around for information and report back anything of interest using his tattoos. Because bandits had a bit of a reputation when it came to dealing with the opposite sex, neither Kurenai and Hinata could risk joining and because Shino wasn't exactly the most inconspicuous of people that left Naruto to do it alone.

Luckily Naruto was no stranger to deception, he had after all tricked an entire ninja village into thinking he was little more then a failure for six years, and even then there was no guarantee that they would have realised it if not for him purposely blowing his own cover.

Before long the camp came into sight, it wasn't like they were really trying to hide it after all, and when he was about a hundred feet away from the small clearing Naruto was met by two men, one with black hair and the other with grey, both in tattered clothes with swords hung on their belts. They had an air of smug confidence, obviously not worried about one twelve year old with a rusty axe. The blonde stopped in front of them and after a moment of then sizing him up, the man with grey hair spoke.

"What the hell are you doing here brat, get lost before I decide to gut you like a fish."

Letting a frown cross his face, Naruto just huffed like any normal twelve year old would do at being called a brat before nodding his head in the direction of the camp.

"I'm here to join, heard there was a camp near by and decided to check it out."

Before the grey haired man could make another comment, the one with black hair spoke, clear the more level headed of the two.

"What can you do?"

"I can hunt and cook; I was part of another group not to long ago in Grass country but we were attacked by ninja while I was out hunting and I'm the only one left. I'm ok with an axe but for the most part I'm a cook."

This was also part of the plan, by pretending to be a cook Naruto could avoid having to go on raids, and if the need came he could slip something in the food. The two bandits traded looks for a moment before the one with black hair gestured for Naruto to follow him leaving the grey haired man on guard.

"My names Baggu, what's yours brat?"

"Sato"

"Well Sato, luckily for you our last cook was killed in our last raid, so the position is open because to be quite frank not a single person here can cook for shit. I hope for your sake you can do the job because if not I'll slit your throat myself."

Naruto just nodded his head, making sure to take everything in as he was lead through the camp as the black haired man continued.

"There are 16 of us in this camp, 17 now that your here, and since the reason we lost our last cook was because he came on a raid, plus the fact your only a kid, your not going to go on any. We break camp every three days, if you're too slow you'll be left behind."

By the time he was finished explaining the rules Baggu had led Naruto to a tent near the centre of camp. It a little bigger then most of the other tents and had a large fire pit in front of it with a huge cooking pot, a log pile set to one side and several carts next to it.

"This is the storage tent where we keep all the food, along with other things; it's also where you'll be sleeping from now on. When you're not cooking you'll be checking the stock and if we start to get low on food let someone know and a hunting party will be sent out. Now get to work!"

Without waiting for a reply Baggu gave Naruto a hard push in the back, which he pretended to stumble from, before the man turned his back and returned to his guard post.

After sending one last look around the camp Naruto nodded to himself before entering the supply tent. Just like he was told the tent was full of creates containing different kinds of meat and vegetables for cooking. There were also a few creates filled with weapons, a couple of bags of what Naruto thought might be some kind of explosive powder and a large chest with a heavy pad lock.

When he was sure he had a good stock of what was in the tent, Naruto let out a breath before moving to one of the creates filled with meat.

XXX

For the next two weeks Naruto stayed with the bandits, sending his tattoos to keep the rest of his team updated on where they moved camp to and what he learned about the bandits. Being the cook definitely had its advantages, people let their guards down around him as they eat and drank, the fact he was only a kid in their eyes only helping the illusion.

Since he had 'joined' the group of bandits he had learned several things, like the leader of this group went by the name Ookami, a large, bold man that used a war hammer to fight and hardly ever left his tent. He also learned that this group were indeed part of a larger organization like the Hokage had feared and that it was indeed run by a ninja, though he wasn't able to get anymore information on the mysterious man other then the fact he moved from group to group to pick up his take of the raids, using message hawks to give orders where needed but for the most part left the individual groups to their own devices.

It was almost time for him to pull out and meet back up with his team, who had been looking into other groups by asking around the towns they passed as they followed them, in order to get a better idea of their numbers. The plan was simple enough; he would slip a sleeping poison into tonight's stew and slip away when they were all asleep before meeting up with his team three miles northwest of where they were currently camped at nightfall. If he wasn't there within an hour after the sun went down they would assume something was wrong and move in to help.

It was a good plan, simple but effective, but was ruined by the appearance of one man.

He was man of medium height, with short red hair and brown eyes, and wore a red shirt under a brown flack jacket and brown pants with the bottoms tied in bandages. He had a scare over his left eye, though the eye itself seemed to still work, and had a small scowl on his face as he looked over the camp. But the thing that stood out the most to Naruto was the slashed Iwa headband that he had tied to his left arm.

The moment he showed up, Naruto knew he was in trouble; the man was at least chunin from what he could feel of his chakra if not jonin and would without a doubt be able to kill him with little effort. He was able to get a name when several of the bandits gave the man a bow and said 'Satsu-sama' as he passed them on his way to the main tent but the name didn't mean anything to him.

After that he tried to stay out of sight as much as possible, staying in the supply tent and pretending to prepare the food. The biggest problem the blonde had was that if he tried to use one of his tattoos to warn his team, Satsu would sense him using chakra and know he was here, but if he didn't send a message they would come to retrieve him without knowing there was another ninja in the camp.

He was only disturbed from his thoughts once, and that was when two men came into the supply tent to take the locked chest. Other then that he was left alone. When dinner came he didn't dare add the sleeping poison to the stew in fear of Satsu noticing and all too soon the sun had set, he was running out of time.

When the meeting time had passed Naruto knew he only had minutes and, taking a deep breath to prepare himself, quickly activated his bat tattoo, tied a short message to its leg and sent it off to his team. The massage had been short, but it should be enough.

_Missing-nin. Iwa. Chunin-Jonin. Satsu. Non poisoned. Compromised._

The moment the bat was gone Naruto felt a hand on the back of his vest and was frown out of the tent into the middle of the camp, the bandits looking on with a mixture of confusion and fear as the small boy was pulled to his feet by Satsu, who had a firm grip on the front of his vest that he didn't let go of even when Naruto grabbed his wrists.

"Who the hell let a ninja in the camp?!"

Without waiting for an answer the missing-nin throw Naruto roughly to the ground and stared at him with enrage eyes.

"Who do you works for? Rock? Grass? Who sent you to spy on us?!"

By this point the bandits had figured out what was happening and started to pack up camp when they realised that enemy ninja could be on their way. As the man rushed from tent to tent Satsu's eyes never left Narutos face as he slowly drew out a kunai from the pouch on his hip.

Naruto was able to pull himself together just in time to doge the kunai that had been about to slash his throat by rolling backwards away from the enraged ninja before quickly getting into a crouch and kicking the larger man in the side of the head, disorientating him just long enough for the blonde to put some distance between them.

The moment Satsu had regained his senses he sped through handseals before slamming his foot on the ground.

"Earth Spears Jutsu!"

Naruto was able to jump to the side just in time to avoid the row of sharp deadly spikes that erupted out of the ground in a line leading straight from Satsu to the spot he had been standing no a moment ago. He heard a scream and made the mistake of taking his eyes off of his opponent to look behind him and saw that one of the bandits had been caught in the jutsu and was dead, but before he could fully comprehend what had happened he was hit in the face by a large rock that Satsu had fired at him when he wasn't looking.

Everything around him went fussy and all he could here was a high pitched whistling sound, his head was killing him and no matter how hard he tried Naruto couldn't keep his balance long enough to get back on his feet. At some point he realised that his head was bleeding, the blood flowing down his face and into his left eye.

Luckily it was at that exact moment that his team arrived, both Hinata and Shino separating in order to pick off the now panicking bandits as Kurenai made a beeline straight for Satsu, meeting him in a shower of sparks as their kunai clashed together. They spent several minutes exchanging blows, neither giving the other time to prepare any jutsu, but it was clear Kurenai was not going to win.

With his head still buzzing and the ringing in his ears getting even louder, Naruto was finally able to pull himself up and with a shaky hand clawed at the bandages on his stomach, tearing them away and started to run through handseals as quickly as his addled brain could. Both jonin had caught the movement out of the corner of their eyes and without realising it stopped their fight looked at the blonde fully, or more specifically what was on his stomach. With the bandages gone they could both see the tattoo of what looked like a large mouth. But what shocked them both was what happened when Naruto finished his handseals and called out the jutsu.

"Tattoo Jutsu: Ravenous Demonic Sealing!"

The moment the words left his lips the mouth tattooed on his stomach snapped open to reveal sharp, demon like teeth and nothing but swirling darkness between the top and bottom lips.

Before either Kurenai or Satsu realised it was happening several black chains shot out of the darkness, a slight blue glow emitting from them, and wrapped themselves around the missing-nins chest, neck, arms and legs and started dragging him towards the gaping mouth. Falling to the ground screaming, getting the attention of the few bandits that hadn't already been knocked out by Shino or Hinata, who also looked over at the noise. Satsu dug hands clawed at the ground, trying to find something to get a firm grip to anchor him in place, but nothing seemed to work as he was pulled closer and closer to the darkness that was the mouth. When he was only a few feet away from being swallowed, the missing-nins eyes locked with Kurenai's red ones, two twin brown orbs of terror, before with one final tug from the chains he was pulled into the darkness, the mouth closing behind him with a loud snap.

For a moment the clearing was completely silent, those still conscious that had seen what had happened just staring at the whiskered blonde in shock. Then, without warning Naruto's legs gave way from under him and he fell to the ground unconscious.

XXX

When Naruto next opened his eyes it was to the sight of a white ceiling and the smell of antiseptic and that was all it took for him to realise he was in a hospital. Not a second after he realised this every single part of his body started hurting, his back arched in pain and a scream tore itself out of his throat before he could stop it. His body felt like it was burning from the inside out. The door to his room burst open as the Hokage ran in, a worried look on his wrinkled face as he rushed to the side of the bed and grabbed the boys hand as he called for a nurse.

Within minutes the pain was dulled by medication, though he made a note in the back of his mind that they were using ten times the normal dose and his body was still burning through it almost as fast as they were pumping it into him. Even with medication the pain didn't go away completely, his head was pounding and his stomach was throbbing.

He watched as the old man pulled up a seat next to his bed and rested his hand on his, the worry still clear in his eyes, though he was trying to hide it now.

"Naruto, I know it still hurts but I need you to tell me what happened. Kurenai reported that you used some kind of jutsu to pull an enemy ninja inside yourself; I need to know if the seal is at risk."

His breath was coming in short bursts, each one sending another jolt of pain though his stomach and head, but he was able to get words out between them.

"...Its...safe..."

At his words a little of the worry on the old mans face went away, though not all.

"Naruto, can you tell me what you did to the missing-nin? The medics are trying to help you but they don't know what's wrong, do you need us to do something or will it go away by itself?"

Before the blonde had time to get out another word he was interrupted by the sound of the door and footsteps making their way over to his bed. When the new person in the room came into his field of view Naruto couldn't stop the small smile that crossed his lips, before it was gone as another jolt of pain shot through him.

Punchi looked down at the blonde boy, ignoring the Hokage as the man turned to him and asked who he was, his eyes fixed on Naruto's stomach with a small frown on his face.

"When I heard you were in the hospital I came as soon as I could. You use 'Ravenous Demonic Sealing' didn't you kid, I told you it was too soon to be using something that powerful, your luckily it didn't kill you. How strong was the poor soul?"

Still gasping for breath, Naruto got out a single word.

"...Jonin..."

Letting out a whistle, Punchi just shook his head before turning to the Hokage.

"The kid used a technique call 'Ravenous Demonic Sealing'; it's designed to seal away a living person and drain their chakra and add it to his. The problem is he wasn't ready to use it, especially not against a jonin level ninja, so his body is rejecting it. Until now all he's ever used it on is animals. Basically the kids got a huge case of indigestion."

Frowning at the man's explanation, Sarutobi stood from his seat and looked the much taller man in the face.

"How do you know all this?"

"My name is Punchi; six years ago the kid showed up outside my tattoo shop and asked me for help. I might not be able to use jutsu but I know the ones he uses almost as good as he does."

After a moment of silence, excepted for the sound of Naruto gasping in pain, Sarutobi nodded his head, making a mental note to talk to this man at a later date, before looking back to the blonde boy.

"What do we need to do?"

"That's simple; we need to get the kid into a secure room before the jutsu spits the guy out. With the poor control he has over the jutsu the guy might still have enough chakra to fight and I doubt you want an Iwa jonin going nuts in the village."

Nodding his head in understanding, Sarutobi had several ANBU bring Naruto to the Torture & Intelligence department, making sure the boy was had pain relief constantly being pumped into his veins, and after explaining what was happening to Ibiki had the boy moved into one of the cells, three ANBU stood around him as they waited.

Not ten minutes after they arrived the still visible tattoo of a mouth on the blonde's stomach opened and literally spit out a fully grown man, letting out a slight belching sound as it did so, before closing again. Satsu was covered in slime, his clothes ripped and his eyes were wide as he stared at them all without actually taking them in. His once red hair was now pure white and the haunted expression on his face was almost too much for even the ANBU to look at for too long.

After looking at then for a moment, the missing-nin let out a small whimper before curling into a ball in the corner of the room and shaking.

The moment the ANBU were able to pull themselves together they had the man in chakra cuffs, though from what they could sense of his chakra he didn't have enough left in his body for anything more then living, and quickly move him to a more secure room to wait for questioning.

As for Naruto, the moment the man was spat out he stopped gasping in pain and just lay on the bed, the drugs finally able to do their job as he once again faded out of consciousness.

XXX

When he woke Naruto found that he was once again in the hospital, though this time the Hokage was already in the room looking down at him when he opened his eyes and he wasn't overcome with pain the moment he moved. He also noticed that Punchi was sat on the other side of the bed, a slightly bored look on his face as he sketched on a piece of paper, not even looking up at the blonde when he let out a small groan. He may not be in pain anymore but he was stiff.

"How long have I been here?"

"Two days, three if you include the one before you woke up before spitting out the missing-nin."

Turing to look at the old man, the whiskered blonde let out a slight chuckle when he saw the stern look he was aiming at him, the disapproval for what he had done clear on his face. Propping himself up on the backboard so he wasn't looking up at the old Hokage, Naruto rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"In my defence I think I had a concussion from being hit in the head by an earth jutsu when I used my technique."

Frowning at the boy for several minutes, Sarutobi let out a sigh before nodding his head in acceptance.

"I came to that conclusion after listening to the report Kurenai gave me and hearing the basics of the jutsu you used from your friend here. It is indeed a terrifying jutsu, even more so when you have mastered it, though I do have several questions that Punchi-san here was either unable or unwilling to explain until you awoke."

After sending a glance towards the large man sat next to him, who had still not looked up from his sketching, Naruto just nodded his head and waited for the questions.

"First I would like you to explain what the jutsu does, I already have an idea but I would like to hear it from you."

Taking a moment to think about what he was going to say, the blonde nodded to himself before looking up at the Hokage, a serious expression on his face.

"It's called 'Ravenous Demonic Sealing', it's an B to A rank jutsu and is used to capture a target and drain them of chakra down to the basic level needed to live and gives it to me. I use one of my tattoos to mark the target and when I get a lock on them the mouth on my stomach drags them into a separate dimension that is connected to the tattoo, like when you seal an object into a scroll but for living things."

Nodding his head, having already heard most of that from Punchi, Sarutobi moved on to his next question.

"Is this one of the jutsu in your book?"

"Not exactly, there was a similar jutsu call 'Demonic Devouring Seal', but it had several risks. One of which included it being hard to 'aim', which posed a risk to allies, so we...tinkered with it."

Switching his gaze from Naruto and Punchi several times, Sarutobi was about to ask the larger something before he was stopped by said man talking, still not looking up from his paper.

"Before you ask I said I couldn't use chakra, doesn't mean I don't understand the theory behind it and jutsu."

After taking a moment to think over his words, and the fact he knew exactly what he was about to ask him, the old Hokage went back to questioning Naruto.

"How exactly did you 'tinker' with it?"

"We added my 'Tracker Tattoo Jutsu' that I created when I first learned about Jaki's ability to help aim it, that way it doesn't hit a teammate by mistake. The other thing we did was make it non lethal, the original was designed to suck the chakra coils of anyone caught in it dry but we changed it so it could be used as a capture technique."

Sarutobi had to admit, he was very impressed with what the blonde boy in front of him had done, even if it was with the help of someone else the fact that a thirteen year old was actually able to rework a jutsu was incredible. But the smile on his face changed to a look of worry when he thought about his last question.

"Naruto, what can you tell me about the inside of the dimension that your jutsu uses to store people?"

At the confused look he got from this question, Sarutobi knew the next part of this conversation was not going to easy.

"What are you talking about old man?"

Letting out a sigh while wishing he was aloud to use his pipe while in the hospital, Sarutobi braced himself for the blonde's reaction.

"My boy, the man you used that jutsu on, Satsu I believe his name is...when we interrogated him he was a broken man, he gave us all the information we needed and more but we never even had to touch him. Naruto he told us that he was in that seal for years, just floating in an abyss that never ended. He was so terrified that we would send him back he told us whatever we ask him."

For the next ten minutes the room was completely silent, the blonde teen just staring at the old Hokage with a blank expression on his face, even Punchi had stopped his sketching to look at Naruto with interest. When he was finally able to get a hold of himself, Naruto blinked several times before locking eyes with the Hokage.

"I don't understand he was only sealed for a few days, why would he think it was years?"

Lacing his fingers under his chin and leaning forward, Sarutobi took on a lecturing tone as he explained his theory to the teen.

"I can only guess at this point, but it would seem that the dimension you sealed Satsu in runs on a different timeline then our own. Minutes become days, hours become weeks and days become years. It is truly a terrifying jutsu you have developed and I must admit I am considering having it added to the Forbidden Scroll."

At his words Naruto's eyes widened, not sure what to think, he didn't even fully understand what the old man had said, but he did understand what the Forbidden Scroll was and what it meant if a jutsu was considered dangerous enough to add it.

"If you did add it to the scroll, would I not be allowed to use it?"

Taking a moment to think about how to explain, Sarutobi sighed.

"It's not that simple, despite what the name suggests not all the jutsu added to the scroll are forbidden, sometimes they are added to restrict who is allowed to learn them because of the danger to either others or the person using it. If I were to add it to the scroll it would just be acknowledged as being a dangerous jutsu."

Before anything else could be said, Punchi stood from his seat and looked at Naruto before tuning his attention to the old Hokage.

"I think that should be enough for now, after all he still needs time to recover. However I would suggest that you wait until we know more about the 'Ravenous Demonic Sealing Jutsu' before you add it to that scroll of yours. Maybe you could get the kid to help out in that T&I department of your, I'm sure you have a few prisoners that not even scar face can brake, the kid gets to practice his jutsu and you get information out of the people he brakes. Plus the more he uses it the more people he will be able to hold at a time and the longer he can hold them, everyone wins."

Taking on a thoughtful expression, Sarutobi was silent for several minutes before nodding his head.

"That seems reasonable, Naruto I will talk to your jonin sensei about having you spend one day a week in the T&I department working on your 'Ravenous Demonic Sealing Jutsu' when not on missions, dose that sound agreeable to you?"

For a while Naruto didn't answer, wondering if he should really be training with it if the Jutsu was really that dangerous. But the fact was he is a ninja, and this jutsu would benefit both him and the village, and in the end that was the whole point of a ninja.

Not saying anything, Naruto just nodded his head in agreement before lying back down on the hospital bed and thinking about what he would do next, barely even noticing when both Sarutobi and Punchi left the room.

XXX

**Hope you like the chapter.**

**For those thinking that it is out of character for Sarutobi to be so cold when dealing with prisoners, in that he is willing to let Naruto test his Jutsu on them, the fact is he is the leader of a ninja village and must do what is best. Sorry if you don't like it but that's just the way it is. XP**

**Also for those wondering why Punchi seems so casual about sitting in a room with the strongest ninja in the village, I will go into a bit of detail about that later, but long story short he just doesn't give a shit.**

**R&R :)**


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